


Loved

by FrazzledDragon



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Lots of Angst, cried while writing this, hints of attempted suicide, inspired by a fanart, kind of violent, lots of blood, no really shippy stuff, pls be careful if easily upset, v sad, very sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-19
Updated: 2018-04-12
Packaged: 2019-03-21 06:49:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13735416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrazzledDragon/pseuds/FrazzledDragon
Summary: Lance decides and comes to terms with the fact that he is significantly less important than the others of Team Voltron.Oddly, no one else thinks that way and works to convince him otherwise.





	1. Chapter 1

Lance didn’t make a sound when the shot went through his leg. He listened on the comms to make sure no one heard him, but as the battle roared around the Lion-less paladins, his tiny intake of breath was nothing.

His leg hurt like hell. Tears were streaming down his face, but he managed to pump the soldier who had shot him full of bullets, perforating him like cheese as he fell backward off the ship. Lance collapsed to the ground, painstakingly dragging himself back to the wall of the ship, silently crying as the pain throbbed throughout his body. The shot had left a nauseatingly big hole in his leg, almost severing it.

He lost track of time and space as his blood stained the metal panels beneath him scarlet and pain filled his entire consciousness. He shot anything with the galra label that came into view as best he could, grateful he was mostly hidden. 

Everything hurt. Everything was blurry and his consciousness was fading fast. He hoped the battle would over soon. He still had to get back to the Castle and that would be awful like this.

“All clear over here!” Pidge’s voice crackled over the comms, bright and cheerful.

“All clear here too!” Keith was quick to call.

“All clear around the Castle!” Shiro added, “Get back there as soon as you can!... Hunk! Lance! Report in!”

“I’m coming back toward the Castle, but there’s a couple drones hiding from me that I can’t seem to hit! They’re too small and too far away! And there’s more coming way every second!”

Lance pushed himself off the ground, determined to help Hunk. “On my way, Hunk,” Lance growled breathily. He didn't have the strength to do any sort of sharp-shooting, but he wasn’t going to leave his best friend alone in an unfair fight. He hoisted his bayard up, limping painfully toward the clearing he had last seen Hunk. Hunk was no longer there, but Lance heard sounds of a fight in the distance.

Then, he found Hunk with his back against the wall. Anger surged through him as one of the drones hit him, knocking his spray of bullets down. Lance hoisted his gun up to his shoulder and fired at anything that wasn’t wearing yellow until his vision blurred and he could hardly concentrate on holding himself up.

The pain was unimaginable.

So immense was the pain, that it took Hunk’s hand on his arm, supporting his weight, that it occurred to him that Hunk had been talking to him.

“Lance! Lance! Are you okay?!” Hunk’s deep, anxiety-filled voice gave the pain a run for its money for Lance’s attention.

“I’m… I’m fine, Hunk.” Hunk was startled; Lance sounded intoxicated, his words slurring and delayed.

“Allura! Bring the Castle to us! Lance’s been shot! He’s lost a lot of blood guys!”

There was an eruption of chatter over the comms, indistinct sounds of panicked worry muddling in Lance’s ears. “Guys… Guys… I’m fine… Hunk’s… bein’ dramatic.” Another eruption of chatter, and Lance’s eyes drifted to Hunk, who was holding him upright.

Hunk was tearing up. No, scratch that, Hunk was crying.

“Wha’s…. What's… wrong? Hunk?” He slurred. 

Hunk just cried harder, his hands squeezing Lance. “I’m scared…” Hunk whimpered, a weak smile twisting his lips. “I don’t want you to be hurt. You’ve lost so much blood! You’re my best friend! I need you!” 

Lance felt his features scrunch into confusion. “You’ve got Pidge…” It was starting to get really hard to talk. Everything was getting harder.

The comms went silent. Some part of Lance found this odd, but he couldn’t figure out why. 

“Lance…” Hunk was crying more, now. “That’s not… That’s not how that works…” He tried to smile, but his tears were making it less convincing. “Lance… You’re… You’re so important… You’re not Pidge, but that’s why you’re so important. You’re not like anybody else! You’re my best friend… Crow, I don’t know what I would do without you...”

Lance managed a smile. “I’m just a bisexual Cuban boy in space… It’s okay. I’m not important… Don’t have to lie. I won’t be mad...”

Hunk hugged him so tightly to him that moment that Lance actually squeaked. Hunk pried both of their helmets off; his words were only for Lance and himself. His were soft but fierce in his ears- Lance had never heard him sound so serious. “You are important. You are loved. You belong. It’s not a damn lie. I would never lie to you. I’m not an asshole and I’m not a damn fraud. You are so, so loved. You are family. And I will  _ flatten  _ whoever tells you differently. You mean so much to so many and I am ashamed I ever let you think for a moment otherwise. Now don’t die on me before I can prove that I mean it.”

Hunk wiped his tears away, putting his and Lance’s helmets back on.

“Hunk, we’re in position. The other paladins are headed your way right now… Lance…” Allura’s voice over the comms broke. “Stay with us.”

“Anything for you, Princess,” Lance murmured, a little confused. He thought it had been a well known thing, his being relatively unimportant. In the big scheme, the big plan, the visage of the future, he was microscopic. Not important. Unnecessary. He had come to accept that. The others were onto bigger and better things. It wasn’t that bad. At least, he had been able to see them. To meet the celebrities that would go down in history. That would be his favorite story to tell. 

How he had met the men and women who saved the universe. How he had gotten, for a short time, to pretend to be one of them. His mother and sisters would be proud of him. He had made it out of that small, disgusting little house. He had run with heroes and heroines and seen things that nobody back home had ever imagined… Crow, he missed his mom.

“Mama,” he whimpered, his eyes watering. “I’m sorry I left you…”

There were more voices around him, getting louder all the time.

“Dammit… Tie a tourniquet, Keith… Pidge, get the stretcher ready. Allura, get those healing pods ready… What do you mean, they won’t work? That’s not an option, dammit! Lance, hold on, you’ll be okay…” Shiro, voice full of frustration.

“Shiro, there’s so much blood…” Pidge, voice full of fear.

“Guys, I think he’s going unconscious…” Hunk, voice full of urgency.

“Lance, please… Please, stay with us… I’m cutting off the blood flow, Shiro, but he’s lost too much… What do I do?... Lance, please…  _ Please _ open your eyes…” Keith, his voice breaking. 

Lance, with an impossible effort, kept his eyes open. Keith never asked for anything. He wanted to try for him. His eyes found Keith’s, and he almost smiled. Keith was crying. Crying over him, much less. 

He felt four pairs of arms lift him onto something flat. He winced as his legs was jostled, but he did his best to stay conscious. He could only focus on slivers of the conversation being held over him at a time.

“... no healing pods…”

“... painkiller…”

“... blood transfusion…”

“... will  _ NOT _ die…”

“... get rags…”

“... amputation…”

The darkness was too much. None of the words meant anything. Lance couldn’t hold on anymore and with a murmured apology, Lance let the darkness wrap him in its ferocious and warm arms.

 

When his eyes fluttered open, he had never felt more tired in his life.

To his surprize, the first thing his eyes landed on were the paladins surrounding his bed. Pidge, Hunk, Shiro, Keith… They were almost all asleep, their heads on or near his bed. Only Keith was awake, his smile massive. 

“You’re awake…” Keith whispered, his eyes watering. “You’re awake!” Keith hugged him so tightly that Lance had to blink to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating. “You… I’m so sorry… I couldn’t imagine being here without you and you deserve all the happiness in the world and I’m so sorry you ever felt we didn’t care, that I didn’t care about you… Crow… I never want to see you so… so hurt ever again…”

Lance chuckled. “Now you’re getting mopey and emotional.” This felt so unreal, so imaginary. He had never seen Keith cry. Everything felt like a dream. Keith telling him he cared about little ole Lance? He was definitely hallucinating. But, still, he had to wipe tears from his eyes.

“Yeah. But that doesn’t mean I don’t mean it,” Keith said firmly. “I was so scared… You’ve been out for two days… We thought you weren’t going to make it and we were all so scared you’d die and you’d never know that we all think we’re shit friends for making you think you didn’t matter to us for even a damn second because you’re so important and so important to this team…” He had to stop, because he had run out of breath and he was crying now so his words probably wouldn’t make sense anyway. Instead, he hugged Lance again and Lance weakly wrapped his arms around him too. 

Keith laughed a little, his relief evident. “Do you want anything? Need anything? I’m… I’ll do anything.” He rubbed his eyes, looking more alive than Lance had ever seen him.

“I’m a little hungry, if you’re sure it’s no trouble…” Lance smiled.

Keith grinned. “On it. I’ll be right back, okay?”

Lance nodded. “Sounds good…”

He enjoyed the quiet for all of one minute, before Shiro woke up.

“Lance!” He rejoiced, his eyes bright. “You’re awake… Thank God, you’re awake… Crow, you have no idea… You have no idea,” he said, voice quiet. “I’ve got some stuff to say… Hunk said it best, but I’ll try to voice my thoughts the best I can… I’m really bad at this, just warning.” Shiro took a shaky deep breath. “When Hunk said you were bleeding out, I… I immediately thought of every moment I took you for granted. Every second I spent annoyed at you or making fun of you or ignoring the skills and energy you brought to the team… And crow, Lance… I balled like a baby. I cried for so long… Ask anyone here, I was a mess,” he chuckled softly, glancing at the other paladins. 

“Then the healing pods failed and I had to call the shots and I was the only one who matched your blood type and Lance I’ve never been more scared in my life. I thought we were going to lose you and every moment kept running through my head. Every time I could have complimented you and I didn’t, assuming you knew how proud of you I was. And God above, I’m so proud of you. You are a warrior and a leader and so very important and… I’m so sorry I ever took you for granted.”

Lance wiped his eyes, an unbelieving smile crossing his face. “You really think that of me? You’re proud of me?”

Shiro’s eyes welled up. “Always.” Shiro hugged him tightly.

Lance rubbed the heel of his hand into his eye, his joints feeling creaky and weak. “If you guys keep crying like this and making me cry, we’re all gonna end up dehydrated.”

Shiro chuckled. “I’m so, so glad you’re back.”

“I think Keith got lost… And I don’t know if he’ll think to tell Allura and Coran, so they probably want someone to update them.”

Shiro’s eyes widened. “I forgot Alteans existed. Shit. I’ll be back.” He raced out the door,

Like magic, Pidge was the next to wake up.

When her eyes met Lance’s, her mouth gaped, but no words came out. Instead, she tackled Lance in a hug and just cried. Cried and sobbed and balled, her brokenness making him feel broken too. She didn’t need words to express her thoughts, as Lance’s arms wrapped around her in return and he felt tears roll down his cheeks and plink onto her. Lance didn’t know how long she cried, how long they held each other and just were, but it was the most comforting thing that Lance had ever experienced. Pidge eventually stopped shaking with sobs, and pulled away.

There was a wet spot on Lance’s shirt. 

She sniffled, giggling a little. Her eyes were red, but so were Lance’s. She hugged him again, quickly this time. They didn’t exchange a single word, her hiccupy smile and his tired grin all the words they needed. Lance wasn’t sure he had the words anyway.

Pidge shook Hunk, the only paladin still asleep awake.

Hunk’s soft eyes focused on Lance and he got up and began to dance. “You’re awake! You’re alive!” He cheered, crying again. “I thought I was going to lose my best friend… I’m so sorry...”

“I couldn’t leave my best friends in the entire universe,” Lance said softly. “There’s nothing to forgive, so you can stop apologizing. I’m here, thanks to you guys.”

“WE LOVE YOU BUDDY!” Hunk yelled, balling and wrapping his bear arms around the thin, Cuban boy. Pidge giggled, joining in.

It wasn’t long before Lance caught a glimpse of red; Keith had joined the pile.

Another weight. A flash of black.

Two more weights and a distinctive mustache.

Lance laughed. “I love you guys… But you are smushing me…”

The pile slowly dismantled.

“Now, that I’ve gotten all the snuggles and happiness I could ever ask for, what’s the bad news? I know I passed out before anything actually happened… I got some bits and pieces from talking to each of you, something about the healing pods and something about amputation?”

The others looked at each other in shock.

“That might have been before I passed out.”

The others looked less shocked, more sheepish. “We… We had to cut your leg off… There wasn’t any other way…” Shiro managed. “It was only hanging by a thread… I’m sorry, Lance.”

Lance shrugged, smiling a little. He was so emotionally drained, he wouldn’t have been able to get scared or angry, even if he wanted to. “I forgive you. Besides, an amputee is more attractive and interesting anyway.” Lance winked at Allura, and pushed forward to kiss him on the cheek.

Lance’s jaw dropped, before it melted into a grin. “No pity kisses, princess.”

Allura wiped away tears.

“Lance, number three, it’s just… It’s just that we did not know how much you struggled and we feel that it’s partially our fault for not noticing, not trying to mend our relationships. Sure, we’re just lonely little Alteans, but we have come to think of you as family and we feel responsible,” Coran stumbled through, nodding as he finished.

“Coran, I’ve officially forgiven everyone here. I let my anxiety, my self-worth issues, my self-loathing doubt all of you and I’m sorry for that. I’m sorry for getting hurt and I’m sorry I didn’t think to ask for help. I’m sorry I scared you and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I wasn’t happy.”

“And, I’m crying again…” Hunk sighed, trying to wave his tears dry.

Lance chuckled. “I love you guys. I’m sorry I scared you guys. I didn’t think I was that important because I idolize you so much. I think the world of all of you. I won’t let my health be forgotten again, or at least I’ll try to.”

Pidge sniffled, making an effort to control her emotions. “Anyway, before we’re all sobbing again, I made… I made you some options for a new leg. I tried to think of things you’d like… So…”

Pidge pulled out three prosthetic legs, her hands shaking a little. Lance’s soft gaze danced over the options.

“They’re all good, Pidge. Whichever you like best. I’m so thankful you made them for me. I was worried we were going to have to go to another mall. Or use crutches. I wasn’t sure what Blue would think of crutches… They all look radical.” Lance was so tired. He was sure he’d be more emotional about his lost leg later, but it didn’t seem that important now.

He had his friends. He had his family. He could feel the Blue Lion purring in the back of his head, her overwhelming affection and apology filling his vision with blue. 

He felt loved. And maybe, just maybe, he would be considered a hero too.

 

It would be three months later that Lance was back to full health and strength.

And, as it turns out, all his family needed a little wakeup call to remind them he sometimes missed the subtly ‘I care about you and your wellbeing’ clues. They made sure to never make that mistake again.

Shiro, everyday, without fail, complimented something he did well. It was always genuine and always appreciated. Sure, there was joking around and roughhousing, but there was always a compliment.

Hunk, at least twice a week, cooked a meal that Lance loved. He also spent more time with Lance, whether it was gaming or teaching him Pidge and his jargon. Hunk also made sure if Lance ever wanted to talk about anything, Hunk was available and willing.

Keith was more subtle than the others, but Lance found it no less meaningful. Keith was with Lance more often, listening to music with him or sparring or whatever the day suggested. And though it was never to be public knowledge, Keith let Lance put facemasks on him and give him manicures whenever he wanted, as long as it could be kept secret. Keith’s skin had never been so pristine and Lance had never had someone to do facemasks with, even with all of his sisters.

Pidge was constantly upgrading Lance’s prosthetic, to the point where Lance honestly forgot it wasn’t his real leg most of the time. She had even managed to give it feeling. She, like Hunk, just hung out around him more often and tried to show him what she was working on at any given time. She taught him basic coding and about how she made some of her most favorite computer programs.

Allura did her best to not be annoyed by his endless flirting and sometimes, if she was in a good mood, flirted back. She danced with Lance after dinner, once or twice a week. She was always an avid dancer on Altea, and as was Lance, it only seemed natural that he teach her some new dances. She would never admit that Lance was a great dance partner, and that it had quickly become her favorite pastime and she looked forward to it every week.

Coran stepped in as a father figure, complete with dad jokes. He even tried to learn spanish, which he had learned was Lance’s native language. He was terrible at it, but it made Lance happy and that was enough for Coran.

Even Lance’s darkest thoughts could no longer convince him that he was unimportant, that he was unloved, that everyone simply tolerated his presence. His inner demons had lost the fight against his family. He couldn’t be prouder.

“Whatcha thinking about?” Pidge asked, eyes glued to the screen and the numbers flying by. 

“How much I’ve learned,” Lance answered quietly, eyeing Keith, who was napping on the couch beside him. “How much things have changed. How much I’ve changed.”

“Yeah? That’s pretty cool. Guess what?”

“What?” Lance could sense Pidge was playing at something, but at what, he couldn’t imagine.

“I can’t believe you, of all people, don’t know.”

“Know what?” Lance’s confused smile made Pidge’s smile wider.

“What’s the date, by earth calendars?”

Math came easy to Lance, at least most of it, but he had no idea how to convert the movements they’d been gone from earth into hours and days. Lance wasn’t even sure what day they’d left, so it wouldn’t be any good anyway.

“What’s the date?”

“It’s your birthday, dumdum,” Pidge said fondly. “And I made you a present.”

Lance grinned. “It’s my birthday? How come no one told me?”

“Because, I asked them if I could, because I have a special present for you, but the others will want to use it too, but I figured if I claimed not only telling you it was your birthday, but also the first present, you’d be able to use my present first and without interruptions.”

Lance shook his head to clear it. He was confused. “Can I open it?”

Pidge nodded, Lance pried the box open.

Inside, lay a phone. 

“I know what you’re thinking. Really, Pidge? Why just a phone? But, I upgraded it, so it’ll piggyback on the Castle’s power and I  _ think _ you should be able to call home. I heard what you said… on… on the stretcher… So I tried to help.”

Lance’s jaw dropped. He dialed the number without a pause.

“Hola? Senora Sanchez. Quien es?” Tears pooled in Lance’s eyes.

“Lance, tu hijo,” Lance whimpered. Today was the best day of his life.

“LANCE?!”

The entire castle could hear the scream of joy that Lance’s mother elicited. Lance was crying, Pidge was crying, Keith awoke with a start… Everything was perfect.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was a requested companion ficlet. It's got the exact same story, but from the other paladins' perspectives. It's not as fleshed out as the original and I'll probably go back and try to flesh it out more, but until then, this is all I've got for now.

****

KEITH:

Keith wasn’t sure where or when everything went to hell in a handbasket, but as he sliced a galra drone in half, he realized he must have missed something pretty major. Because everything had definitely gone to shit.

The lions, with the exception of Green and Black, were out of commission. As such, Black was defending the Castle from the ground and Green from the sky, which left three of the five paladins stranded on the ground, fighting droves and droves of galra soldiers and drones. Which was a fun challenge for approximately the first five seconds, before it became a little stressful. The galra didn’t want to completely destroy the lions, as they still had use for them, but they had no such reservations about the paladins.

Nonetheless, Keith enjoyed the banter over the comms as Hunk muttered something profoundly profane and Pidge shouted “LANGUAGE” and everyone could hear Shiro sigh and make a big deal about rubbing the earpiece.

Keith yelled something equally profane as a galra soldier very nearly swiss-cheesed him, and grinned at the chorus of responses from three of the other four paladins. It was then Keith realized that Lance hadn’t said a word in a while, which was odd for the rather talkative paladin.

He sliced soldier after soldier, wondering if Lance had actually understood what he meant a few days ago. Lance had seemed off and as Keith wasn’t spectacular with words or anything resembling emotions, he asked the first thing that popped into his head. 

“Hey, Lance?” He had called out when the Blue paladin had walked past without doing the finger-gun thing even once.

Lance had turned, his eyebrow raised. “Yeah, Keith?”

“I’ve never been any good with guns. Any chance you could teach me to shoot? Later, maybe, if you’re busy?” It was true. Keith was less than average with a gun, and as Lance was the team’s sharpshooter, it only seemed logical that Keith would ask him. And, Keith figured, he hadn’t spent any time with Lance recently and though they were prone to fighting, he  _ did  _ have a grudging respect for the Cuban boy. Maybe, then, Lance would be able to tell him what was wrong so Keith could tell Shiro to fix it.

“Ask Hunk,” Lance had replied solemnly, turning and walking away in a very un-Lance like manner. Keith had been a little alarmed at being brushed off like that, but then immediately went and told Shiro. There wasn’t much the Black paladin could do, though, without knowing exactly what was wrong.

“All clear over here!” Pidge called out over the comms. Keith shook his head, partially because calling the upper atmosphere of a planet ‘over here’ was inaccurate and partially because he had also cleared out his ‘over here’ while he had been so lost in thought. 

“All clear here too!” He yelled as he jet-packed over the drones and soldiers.

“All clear around the castle!” Shiro said, not feeling the need to yell.  _ That’s the entire point of a comm system, _ he had once complained to Keith.  _ Yelling is not necessary. _ “Get back here as soon as you can… Hunk! Lance! Report in!”

Keith was a little interested to hear Lance’s reply. You could tell a lot about Lance’s mood based on the response he gave to orders. He was by no means fluent in Lance-Emotions, but he knew enough to be able to tell if something was wrong.

“ I’m coming back toward the Castle, but there’s a couple drones hiding from me that I can’t seem to hit! They’re too small and too far away! And there’s more coming way every second!”

Keith was starting to get worried. Where was Lance? Where was his snarky remarks?

“On my way, Hunk,” Lance finally piped in, but Keith was immediately suspicious. Lance sounded drunk. As someone who would rather die than admit something hurt, he could hear it in Lance’s breathing. 

He began making his way toward where he last saw Hunk, listening to the sound of Lance’s bayard firing in his earpiece. At least the guy was alive. 

 

PIDGE:

Either Lance had taken a nap while the rest of them were fighting for their lives, or he was hurt, Pidge decided as she docked the Green lion in the Castle. She walked onto the main deck, jumping to help Coran and Allura but as she heard Lance’s bayard fire, she figured he must be fine and set about her work.

Then Hunk’s voice interrupted the cacophony of gunshots, grunts, and pants. “Lance! Is… is that  _ your _ blood? Oh crow, Lance! Lance can you hear me?! What happened to your leg? Lance! Lance, are you okay?”

Something solid dropped in Pidge’s gut. Hunk was pretty quick to panic, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t tough or strong, or couldn’t tell the difference between a lethal and non-lethal wound. Something in his voice told her this very well could be a lethal wound.

“I’m… I’m fine, Hunk.” Pidge’s eyes widened as Lance’s response crackled back to her. Lance sounded drunk and about to pass out. Her panic only grew when Hunk’s deep voice shouted through the comms.

“Allura! Bring the castle to us! Lance’s been shot! He’s lost a lot of blood, guys!” She immediately worked to help, locating Hunk on the scanner and sending the location to Allura. She could feel her pulse in her fingertips. Lance was hurt. Really hurt. Lance was  _ hurt _ . That was enough to make her work double time, trying to prepare the medbay. Only to discover something truly panic inducing.

The medbay was out of commission. It was the  _ only _ area of the Castle that had sustained substantial damage, making it completely unusable. They didn’t have a doctor on board. They didn’t have an all-knowing AI. They were completely in the dark and Lance was hurt. She couldn’t even process the conversation Hunk and Lance were having in the background.

“You’ve got Pidge.” She heard that, though, and her heart broke. She could hear the implied,  _ you don’t need me _ , underneath it, clear as day. Surely, Lance didn’t actually think like that.

Hunk was crying, she could hear it… But she had to tune it out. She needed to focus on getting the medbay back online. She might be able to do it from her computer. Even if she could just get one pod to work, that would be enough. 

_ Just one pod, please _ , Pidge prayed.

The Castle landed. Allura was talking. Lance was talking. Shiro was giving orders, ordering Allura to get a pod ready.

“There’s no pods,” Pidge whispered, her failure weighing her down. “There’s no medbay.”

Shiro started swearing, and Pidge raced out to see Lance.

 

SHIRO:

Lance looked awful. In galra prison, he had helped a few other prisoners with their wounds, but nothing like this. If a prisoner came back looking like this, he and the other prisoners helped them pass on. 

Lance couldn’t die. That was not an option.

He was so scared of losing Lance, that he couldn’t even process what he was saying, Leader Shiro taking over and talking for him. He shook his head as Lance’s conscious began to slip. There were two things he had to focus on.

  1. He had to stop the bleeding and deal with Lance’s blood loss.
  2. He had to do something about Lance’s leg. 



He’d have to amputate Lance’s leg. There was no other way to fix his leg.

“What?!” Pidge whimpered, meeting his eyes. “What do you mean, amputate?”

Shit. He had said it out loud. The other three paladin’s were looking at him in terror. Lance was unconscious on the stretcher and although they were still walking he could feel the fear in the other three.

“We’ll have to. There’s no other way. If we want Lance to survive, we’re going to have to stop the blood loss and there’s no way we’re going to be able to patch up that whole. He’ll be fine.” Shiro was really glad Leader Shiro was always confident, because he certainly wasn’t.

Keith nodded quickly. He was always the first to trust Shiro’s judgement, the first to give his opinion. “Let’s just get him on painkillers first,” he said, his eyes still filled with tears.

Lance couldn’t be lost. Lance was not allowed to die.

He hated that he didn’t know what to do.

 

HUNK:

He vomited when Shiro took out the saw. He vomited again when Shiro sawed Lance’s leg off. He didn’t have anything left to vomit when they checked Lance’s blood type and he didn’t match.

Pidge didn’t match.

Keith didn’t match.

He rejoiced when Shiro matched. They set up a line. 

They lost him for a couple minutes. They barely were able to draw him back.

Hunk refused to leave Lance’s side, even when his blood levels were stable.

All four paladins fell asleep at his feet.

Hunk was terrified.

 


End file.
